An Exciting Friday!

Today has been a particulary exciting day, which is a great blessing in the middle of dreary January. The weather is currently a balmy 49 degrees, which meant that the little neighbor girl was at our door, knocking, at 9 AM, asking if the kids would come outside and play (and yes, I might have still been in my bathrobe). After telling her that the kids would be out at 11, we hurried through school, which included tracing their bodies onto pieces of posterboard so that we can learn about parts of the body. Then we bundled up and headed out. Much to Ellie's (and my) surprise, she is now able to pedal the pedals on her bike and tricycle. Her leg muscled are a little weak, though, so I helped by pushing stealthily from behind.

49 is actually a little warmer than I had imagined, so after about 15 minutes, the kids had their hats and mittens off, though I would not let Ellie take her coat off. While they played, I was able to work on my bedraggled front planter, so that it went from this:
to this! I know, it's not a huge improvement, but cutting away old dead stuff means that spring is coming (eventually)! BTW, I think I might have cut away a little too much of my coral bells plant (real name: heucheura, but I can't pronounce that). Are you supposed to cut those back to the ground every year? Mom, Carol, any ideas?

The other reason that I was so eager to get the kids out of the house was that out piano tuner paid us a visit today. To fix sticky keys, he ended up taking apart some of the keyboard, which the kids and I found fascinating. In this picture, Carver is standing right next to me, absolutely refusing to go stand next to the disembodied keys. I think they scared him.

While the piano tuner and I discussed future maintenance, the kids unloaded the dishwasher. While I at first thought this was a great idea, I didn't really think through all the possibilities before letting little Laura help.


Voila!

And, it's only 1:30. After naps, we're off to run errands, finishing up with the library. Can you imagine how loopy I'll be tonight?